another reason the coaches poll sucks

we talked about this in our office the other day, but duke got a freakin' vote in the preseason poll

and now we know who did it

Nineteen years ago, Duke gave Steve Spurrier his first college head coaching job.

As a way of saying thanks, Spurrier continued his habit of casting a vote for the Blue Devils in Friday's USA Today preseason coaches poll.

"Yeah, I claim that," the South Carolina coach told the Journal-Constitution. "I've been voting for the boys from Duke since, oh, about 1990, whenever I started voting on that poll. I just want 'em to know that I haven't forgotten about 'em and I appreciate everything they did for me. That's why I did it."

Spurrier put the Blue Devils, who are coming off a 1-10 season, No. 25 on his ballot. Needless to say, it was the only vote for Duke and didn't bother administrators of the poll, which counts for a third of the BCS formula.

"USA Today and the [American Football Coaches Association] are very satisfied with our system and our poll," AFCA executive director Grant Teaff said Friday. "It's an opinion poll."